Alternative  Fuels  for  School  Buses  

Tuesday,  January  26,  2016

Goal

To  provide  the  School  Committees  with  recommendations  to  guide  the  possibilities  for  future  purchase  of  alternatively  fueled  school  buses• Understanding  of  the  cost  to  purchase  and  fuel• Understanding  of  the  impact  on  the  environment• Understanding  of  the  infrastructure  needs• Rationale  to  support  any  recommendations• Life  time  cost• Green  House  Gas  (GHG)  reduction• Health  impact  on  kids

Our  Current  Fleet

• 36  Diesel  Buses  (10  new)• Most  purchased  in  2006-­‐2010• 85,250  gallons  per  year• Costing  $260,000  at  $3.04

• 1,907,895  lbs.  of  GHG  each  year• CPS  busing  alone  accounts  7-­‐9%  of  all  energy  used  by  the  town  (buildings,  street  lights,  DPW,  everything)

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2010-­‐2011 2011-­‐2012 2012-­‐2013 2013-­‐2014 2014-­‐2015

Gallons  of  Diesel  Consumed

CPS CCRSD

Diesel  School  Bus  Emissions  • Diesel  exhaust  (source  EPA)

• Can  cause  lung  damage  • Has  been  identified  as  a  likely  cause  of  cancer

• Acute  eye,  throat  and  bronchial  irritation

• Exacerbation  of  asthma  and  allergies• Potential  interference  with  lung  development  in  children

• In  addition  to  impacting  human  health,  diesel  exhaust  also  harms  the  environment  by  contributing  to  smog  formation  and  acid  rain.

Alternative  Fuels  – School  Buses• Petroleum  Fuels  (Diesel,  Bio-­‐Diesel  B20  and  Propane)  

• Thomas,Blue  Bird and IC  Bus• Electrically  Powered  (BEV)

• TransPower and Lion  Buses• Natural  Gas  (CNG)  

• Thomas andBlue  Bird

• Hydrogen  (FCEV)• Crop  Fuels  (E85  and  B100)  • Mechanical  Hybrid  Systems  (Kinetic)• Petroleum  Fuels  (Gasoline  E10  and  Bio-­‐Diesel  B2/B5)  • Battery  Hybrid  Systems  (PHEV,  parallel  HEV,  series  HEV)  

Alternative  Fuels  – Infrastructure

• Diesel• Compressed  Natural  Gas  (CNG)• Propane  (LPG)• Bio-­‐Diesel  B20  and  B100• Electrically  Powered  (BEV)

Creating  an  apple  to  apples  comparisonMain  source  document  was  from  Argonne  National  Laboratory

Alternative  Fuel  Life-­‐Cycle  Environmental  and  Economic  Transportation  (AFLEET)  Tool  2013• https://greet.es.anl.gov/afleet

Fuel  pricing  data  came  from  the  US  Alternative  Fuels  Data  Center• http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/prices.html

To  correctly  reflect  the  emissions   from  electricity  in  MA  I  used   the  ISO  of  NE  (footprint   tab)• http://www.iso-­‐ne.com/about/what-­‐we-­‐do/key-­‐stats/resource-­‐mix

To  reflect  the  mineral  resources  used  I  used  the  following  conversions  values  (footprint   tab)• http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=667&t=8

Alternative  Fuels  – Terms  and  Alphabet  Soup

• BTU  – British  thermal  unita  measure  of  work

• GHG  – Green  House  Gasesa  measure  of  weight  

• Carbon  Cycle  – a  series  of  processes  by  which  carbon  compounds  are  interconverted  in  the  environment

• MPGGE  –Miles  per  Gallon  Gasoline  Equivalenta comparative  measure  of  efficiency  

Recommendations  – Biodiesel  B20  or  B100

• The  fuel  cost  of  Biodiesel  is  linked  to  the  price  of  diesel• B20  has  a  small  additional  cost• B100  has  a  higher  cost

• B100  reduction  in  GHG  is  large• No  change  to  infrastructure• Suggest  using  as  a  pilot  first  to  check  fuel  quality  from  supplier  and  to  monitor  and  maintenance  issues  like  filters  or  injectors

Recommendations  – Electrically  Powered  EV

• CPS  has  applied  for  a  grant  to  receive  a  free  type-­‐C  fully  electric  school  bus  and  charger

• If  awarded  The  EV  School  Bus  CPS  the  pilot  will  last  one  year

• Concord  Light  will  be  part  of  the  pilot  and  is  very  interested  in  the  vehicle  to  grid  (V2G)  technology

Recommendations  – Future  Planning  (1  of  2)

• In  5  year  the  alternative  fuels  research  done  today  will  expire

• Diesel  buses  running  on  Biodiesel  will  reduce  GHG  now  at  little  extra  cost

• Consider  under  carriage  wasting  station  to  extend  bus  life  

Recommendations  – Future  Planning  (2  of  2)

• Install  solar  canopy  to  protect  buses  from  weather  while  generating  savings  

• Future  fleet  could  be  electric  and  a  few  long  range  diesels  for  out  of  town  travel  

• Expect  the  purchase  price  of  electric  school  buses  to  drop  and  use  the  EV  pilot  to  learn  the  pricing  tipping  point  

Propane  School  Bus  Demo